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Thursday, September 9, 2010

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Super Su !

The country of China is working hard to prevent the extinction of its iconic furry creature, the Giant Panda. To that end, China has loaned breeding pairs to approved zoos where the staff will work equally hard to raise young pandas to send to China. The San Diego Zoo has "returned" two zoo-born young adults to China already, and now plans are being made to send 5-year-old Su Lin to the pandas' homeland as well.

Su Lin is "my baby panda", the only panda youngster I've seen personally, so I'm trying not to get overly emotional about "losing" her, but it isn't easy.

Dick and I took these pictures when were in San Diego for the first World Baseball Classic in 2006. They show Su Lin when she was 6 or 7 months old, an age when wild pandas spend most of their time high up in trees for safety, while their mothers look for food. So here, silhouetted against the California sky is 'Super Panda' Su, dreaming of leaping tall buildings in a single bound.

See the sky from many other points of view, also, this week at Skywatch Friday.

39 comments:

Yes, isn't she sweet? I've been watching the San Diego Zoo panda cam for years. Give it a try.http://www.sandiegozoo.org/pandacam/The youngest panda there now is Su Lin's little brother Yun Zi who is equally adorable. He just had his first birthday last month.I never thought I'd see a live panda, but when my husband suggested going to San Diego for baseball, I jumped all over the idea. He fell in love with the city, too, so I'm sure we'll go back.

You're right, Lesley, Su Lin is too big now. She's big enough to go to China to raise more panda cubs. These days you'll see Yun Zi climbing trees, however, and he's hilarious, a ham like his daddy, Gao Gao.

For those of you worried about the branches -- panda cubs seem to have a climbing instinct that includes knowing which branches will hold them. I don't know the scientific explanation for this.The youngest cub at the zoo now is Su Lin's little brother, Yun Zi. He's just a year old and won't be going anywhere soon.In between is their 3-year-old sister Zhen Zhen. She and Yun Zi are a lot of fun to watch on youtube or flickr.I believe there are plans to send Zhennie to China as well, but do not know the details. However, the panda breeding center in China needs zoo-born pandas to help with genetic diversity of the species.

You have chosen very good sky shots; the sky is a perfect background for this super panda!Thanks for the visit--you are right that the grass in the upper right is not reflected, that is, not all of it is!

These are great shots, Kay! Pandas really are incredibly endearing..no doubt you'll miss Su Lin very much when she's moved. But how wonderful that she's healthy and strong enough to start her own family now! Do keep us apprised of her progress, if you're able to. Love this post...:)

That tree doesn't look strong enough to support such a big panda. When I taught school we always took our first graders to the LA Zoo. They loved it but I was always a wreck making sure we didn't lose any critters of our own. - Margy